The Gossiping Gourmet: Curry and Kabab offers an extensive menu of pleasant fare
Curry & Kabab Bistro in Huntington Beach features authentic Indian cuisine.
My dining companion and I found most of the food to be quite tasty. The atmosphere is pleasant, with pretty Indian fabrics on the windows, leather booths, patterned carpets and framed pictures of Indian women on the walls.
The restaurant has a bar area with TVs, as well as space for lunch buffets, which are offered from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays to Fridays. On Saturdays and Sundays, a bottomless mimosa buffet is featured.
Every dish can be made to suit the patron’s heat palate — mild, medium or spicy. We decided to try the medium spicy, at our waitress’s suggestion — I like to be able to feel my tongue when the dinner is over.
The menu is extensive, with 69 entries, plus desserts.
We chose kema samosas to start. These are fried dough packets stuffed with a spiced mixture of minced lamb, onions, peas and herbs. They were mild but still tasty, and the mint chutney on the side added a nice depth of flavor.
I have had pakoras before but never ones with cheese. The small squares of the mild paneer cheese, battered and deep-fried, were disappointing only in that they were not served hot so the cheese could melt a bit. They were barely lukewarm, and that spoiled what might have been a nice starter.
The lamb boti kabab was excellent. The tender, flavorful pieces of lamb had a nice char and were marinated with herbs and spices. The dish was served with fried onions and sliced onions as well as green peppers.
Our entrees came with onion kulcha. This is a North Indian naan bread stuffed with seasoned onions and baked in the tandoori oven. I think it was the best Indian bread I’ve ever had. The onions were long cooked and sweet, and the bread was buttery.
Our favorite dish was the chicken saag. We found that “medium spicy” was just the perfect amount of heat for this dish. The pieces of chicken were fried until browned and very tender. The spinach was boiled and then ground into a mixture that was nearly a puree, seasoned with a range of spices. The spinach was almost black and was wonderfully flavorful. We were also impressed with the buttery basmati rice.
The menu has a section of sizzling dishes that includes a number of choices from the tandoori oven — classic tandoori chicken, seekh kabab with chicken or lamb, tandoori shrimp and tandoori mixed grill.
Of course, there is a long list of meat curries with chicken, lamb or goat. The goat curry is prepared in a manner similar to the others, but it is not boneless and is cooked in garlic, onion, ginger and other spices.
Seafood curries are made with fish or shrimp. Sections also offer choices of biryani rice dishes, breads and condiments.
Vegetarians can enjoy vegetable pakoras, vegetable samosas and vegetable soup and select from 15 curries as well as three rice dishes.
For dessert we had pistachio kulfi, the Indian version of ice cream. This was nicely presented, with the icy kulfi cut into four parts and topped with pistachios. Also served are gulab jaman, gajar halwa, rasmalai and kheer.
Takeout is available, and people who live within five miles can get delivery.
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CURRY & KABAB BISTRO
Location: 7114 Edinger Ave., Huntington Beach
Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily
Prices:
Appetizers: $2 to $8
Entrees: $10 to $18
Desserts: $4
Wine:
Bottles: $22 to $29
By the glass: $6 to $8
Corkage: $10
Information: currykababoc.com; (714) 841-1800